Lavender needs soil that is as dry and sandy as possible, ideally even stony. In this respect, planting in a gravel bed – sometimes also referred to as a rock garden – is ideal.
Why is a gravel bed ideal for lavender?
A lavender gravel bed is ideal because lavender prefers dry, sandy and stony soil. Weeds have little chance in the gravel bed and care is minimal. Suitable plants for combination are grasses, perennials, roses, gorse and some trees.
A gravel bed takes little work
In addition to creating optimal conditions for your lavender plants to thrive, a gravel bed has another invaluable advantage: once it has been created, you only have to do a little work with it. Weeds have no chance of growing excessively in such a rock garden. Lavender also benefits from this, as it can quickly be overwhelmed by unwanted plants in normal beds unless you weed constantly. However, in very hot and dry summers you need to make sure that the plants get enough water, i.e. H. If necessary, watering should be carried out.
Create a gravel bed
But before you can enjoy your less labor-intensive but always green gravel bed, there is still a little work waiting for you: After all, the bed has to be created first. Depending on the needs of lavender, a rock garden is best planted on sandy or gravelly soil. However, other floors are also suitable for this type of design. To do this, first dig out a thick layer of soil, at least 20 centimeters, depending on the area of the bed. Fill the resulting hole with sand or gravel, possibly mixed with some garden soil. Loosen the substrate well with a hoe (€139.00 on Amazon) and rake it smooth. Now you can – if planned – cover a path with colored decorative gravel, and only then will the gravel be spread for the beds. The beds can then be planted.
Suitable plants for gravel beds
In full sun locations, the following plants harmonize with the lavender varieties planted:
- Various grasses such as: B. Pennisetum grass, pampas grass or miscanthus
- flowering perennials such as. E.g. gentian, mullein, verbena, toadflax or pitch cloves
- Ground cover roses or shrub roses
- Gorse
- Cherry Laurel
- Sedum
- Spurweed
- Honorary Award
- Bearded Iris
- Plate hydrangeas
- Allium (ball garlic)
- Dogwood
- Magnolias
- strong yellow flowering yarrow
- Highland Asters
- Blue Diamond
- Junker lily
- Girl's Eye
Of course the list is not complete. However, the plants listed harmonize particularly well with lavender as they all have similar needs in terms of location, soil conditions and care.
Tips & Tricks
It can also look very pretty to combine different types of lavender in different colors. The lavenders reach different heights and bloom in various shades of blue and purple as well as in white and pink. Strong yellow-flowering perennials such as girl's eye or yarrow go particularly well with this.
